Florida charter school students are out-scoring and out-gaining their traditional public school counterparts in more than 150 comparisons on the state’s standardized tests, according to a state-mandated report released by the Florida Department of Education Thursday. In 156 of 177 comparisons, charter school students scored higher, made bigger gains and[Read More…]
Tag: Florida and low-income students
Florida roundup: Bulletproof backpacks, charter school standards, second thoughts on teacher evaluations & more
Tweaks coming to teacher evals? Gradebook: “Patricia Levesque, executive director of Jeb Bush’s education foundation and a key voice in state education legislation, meanwhile, is floating a draft bill that would alter the evaluation system, too. She sent an e-mail to superintendents last week seeking input.” Tony Bennett on charter[Read More…]
Letter to editor: “Voucher” (tax credit scholarship) students are tested in Florida
Editor’s note: Step Up For Students president Doug Tuthill wrote the following letter, which was published this morning in the Tampa Bay Times. It’s in response to this Times editorial about testing for students in Florida’s tax credit scholarship program and recent comments from Gov. Rick Scott. Some recent news stories have[Read More…]
At this Florida school, lessons from gardens, food drives, furniture repair
Ryan Wallace left his big, cliquish high school last spring for The Foundation Academy, a non-denominational Christian school with vegetable gardens and an aquaponic farm. “I wanted a chance to try something new,’’ said Ryan, now a 17-year-old junior planning a dodge-ball fundraiser for his class president campaign. Twelve-year-old Marc’Anthony[Read More…]
Florida roundup: Broad Prize, Amendment 8, F-rated charter schools and more
More Broad Prize coverage. As we noted yesterday, the Miami-Dade school district won this year’s Broad Prize, which goes to the urban district with the most academic progress. More from the Orlando Sentinel, Christian Science Monitor, Associated Press, Education Week. The Palm Beach school district was a finalist, which is also[Read More…]
Miami-Dade school district wins Broad Prize for most student progress
For the Miami-Dade school district, the fifth time’s the charm. After being a finalist four other times, Florida’s biggest school system finally won the Broad Prize in education today, given to the urban district making the most progress in student achievement. “Miracles are possible, even when you have to wait five years,” Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said[Read More…]
Time to compare Florida school districts
As a group, low-income students struggle more than their wealthier peers. But in Florida, poor kids in some districts do a lot better than poor kids in others. In Seminole County, for example, 56 percent of third graders eligible for free- and reduced-price scored at grade level or above on[Read More…]
Florida’s next education commissioner needs to be explainer-in-chief
Florida’s next education commissioner will inherit a job that makes juggling chainsaws look easy. He or she must get under the hood of a complicated accountability system, ride herd on a historic shake-up of public education, dodge slings and arrows while walking a political tight rope and leap tall buildings[Read More…]